


Through the Bitter Sweet

by MysteryNA



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: A story cant be engaging without a struggle :P, Comments for suggestions are always considered, Enemies to Lovers, Fighting and fluff first, Friends to Enemies, In a way, Kai/Vanessa, Light pairing between Kai and Vanessa, M/M, Main story will take place post Hollow competition, Might bring back Skeet, Partial time skipping, Predominate pairing is Adam and Reeve, Reeve develops feelings for Adam slowly, Reeve/Adam, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, Saddle up because I have quite a few ideas that I am eager to cover, Skeet/Mira?, Smexy stuff will eventually come, Smut will eventually come, Start of the story covers pre-hollow game, Story Driven Plot, There is going to be drama duh, Work In Progress, slowburn, this story will also have a real world parallel in due time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:40:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24263743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryNA/pseuds/MysteryNA
Summary: It is hard enough to just get by in life, living in the world as it is. But to learn you're existence wasn't meant to happen, and to have to live it out as now merely lines of code, existing in a world that isn't real... life suddenly became a whole lot harder. At least being stuck as an artificial intelligence wasn't all bad. They still had friends. And in due time, something more.
Relationships: Adam/Reeve (The Hollow)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 55





	1. Pre-Hollow Games Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated and I am always open to suggestions. Please let me know of any spelling errors you might encounter, and if you would like a certain scene to play out. I'm not promising anything, but I do love hearing your ideas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plummet of Adam and Reeve's relationship. (Or should I say, Adam and Eves.) As my friend so wonderfully added. Kudos to my friend for sitting through and offering tidbits of recommendations.

“I told you, we needed to lay down some boons and then fortify the rearguard if we were going to stand a chance taking down the lich of the shadow isles, Vasha’rah.”

“Then you shouldn’t have built up your skill tree around pure DPS. You’re playing a Shaman which should prioritize buffing and sustainability.” Reeve couldn’t believe he was having to explain this to Adam.

“You insisted on playing the mage, despite knowing I wanted to build DPS from the very beginning. I only went the Shaman since it was a decent blend between DPS and providing a defensive wall, otherwise we’d never have enough coverage to handle all the different bosses.”

“Guys, can you stop bickering for a change and just formulate a new strategy?” Mira tried to get a word in, to dispel their arguing but they continued their back and forth like they hadn't heard her.

“The mage has the best burst for range, and can even be built for team play if you’d just stick to a defensive build, and let me cover the DPS!”

“GUYS!” Mira had to shout just to be heard. Why were these two always so hard headed?! No matter what game they played, or if they went out of the house, they’d find something to argue about. Sometimes their bickering was entertaining, but right now, they were getting so heated, they were ignoring her. Mira always wanted to play DPS herself, but with these two stubborn jackasses, she was always having to relinquish that role and play a support class, like a priest. And of course, she was also left with all the crafting, strategizing and gear upgrading. Right now, she needed a break. “I’m going to logout. Play again later?”

“Yea, sure.” Adam and Reeve seemed to realize they upset her, so they halted all fighting, but even still, she just needed to walk away for a bit, so she left the call.

Reeve sat back in his computer chair, feeling guilty for upsetting Mira, as was Adam, who was seated on Reeve's bed, with a laptop laid across his lap.

“Reeve, Adam! I’ve got some cheese and crackers. You boys want some?” Reeve’s mom’s holler drew the boy’s attention. Adam’s stomach rumbled at the suggestion and he chuckled at the noise. “Sounds like my body answered for me.”

“Dude, was that your stomach or an earthquake?” It had sounded seriously loud. Adam just answered by shoving Reeve back into the chair he was rising from and then made a bolt for the door. And then the game was on. Without any declaration of war, the pair wordlessly turned their rush for the stairs into a competitive game of who could get to the kitchen first. Adam had a head start, but Reeve saw an opportunity, what with scattered articles of clothing lying on the floor, and when Adam had to dodge around avoiding stepping on the obstacles, Reeve closed the gap to attack his friend’s legs.

He was triumphant in tripping up Adam, leading to the raven-haired boy tumbling through the open door of the laundry room and landing with a huff in a stack of old sheets. Reeve could only assume his sister was in the middle of carrying out her fresh laundry, and dropped a few in her path to her bedroom. For once, he was grateful for his sister’s unintended help.

“Oi! Not fair!” He could hear Adam’s call of annoyance coming from his new entanglement, but he didn’t spare a second thought on going back to help. Instead, he was more focused on winning their silly game. There wasn’t anything he was going to get out of it. But that wasn’t important. What was important, was the chance to show up Adam. The two were always incredibly competitive. Some would even consider their competitiveness to be at a fault. And of course, there was also another important friend, who found them to be annoying when they took their competitiveness to far. And to be fair, they knew she was right to be cross with them, in some circumstances, but in the end, they always made up and to this day, their friendship still held strong. Wasn’t that what counted the most?

To no one’s surprise, Reeve claimed his victory with a little hyped, “yes! Ye-hah!” Adam took his time coming down, knowing full well he’d lost since the moment he lost his balance. As he entered the kitchen, Reeve turned to flash Adam a coy smile, who in turn just rolled his eyes.

“Let’s not get to competitive, now.” Reeve’s mom set the platter full of cracks and cheese down in front of the boys, and gave her son’s hair a ruffle.

“Hey, cut it out!” He frowned at the display of affection, but his mom paid it no mind. “Enjoy~ and if you need me, I’ll be downstairs, watching more of the Office!”

Now alone with their snack, they were quick to delve in and even quicker to fully finish it off. “Now that was satisfying…” Adam rubbed his full stomach with a sigh of relief. The rumbling had now subsided, which meant, time to get back to video games! 

………….

That night, the pair wore themselves out, playing until the early hours of the morning.

“Hey- we should probably get some sleep…” Reeve picked himself off the couch to get ready for bed, but not before shoving Adam playfully in the shoulder to get their groggy attention.

Adam didn’t even realize his hands on the controller had slumped to his lap and his head was bowed forward, threatening to pull him forward off the couch, with the help of gravity. “Aaaaaaaahhh-“ He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, trying to wake up the better part of his mind, to at least get enough steps in for brushing his teeth and swapping out of his day clothes.

By the time they were in bed, the pair could barely grumble out goodnight, before their tired brains shut off all to eagerly at the feel of a pillow below their heads.

…………

“Adnef- hahdna- mmmseeve-“

Reeve was woken far to early for what little sleep he got, but it was hard to slumber when all you can hear is grumbled words in your ear. Turning his heavy-lidded eyes to stare at his companion, he considered shoving Adam over onto his other side, to face the wall. He knew that worked to stop snoring, so he could only assume it would be just as effective for sleep talking.

“Heh-aaa- Reeve…” Reeve halted in his pushing as his name rolled off his friends’ tongue. What was that? Was he talking about him in his sleep? “mmm-aaeve, sa fakcmm cuuu-“

“Huh?” Dreams were the inner reflection of ones mind, so you couldn’t blame him for leaning in out of curiosity to hear better.

“Ahh- Reeve.” Reeve startled as he felt an arm sling itself over his back and he was suddenly being pulled down against a broad chest.

“Oi!” The other’s free hand felt around and found purchase with his face and startled to squeeze his cheeks and feel along the angular curves of his jaw and cheekbones. He was so perplexed by the sudden action, and his own grogginess slowed his reaction time down to a snail’s pace, that he had little to no time to react to Adam lifting him higher, to situate them face to face. And then to his horror, the hand on his cheek slid to the back of his head and pulled him down aggressively to crush their lips into a liplock. That was the match to his dynamite and he exploded in dismay and horror, to scramble off his friend. But not without shoving a palmfull into Adam’s face in his rush to escape their embrace.

“Ahh!” Adam sat up and rubbed his sore cheek, nursing the abused skin. “Reeve? What the hell, man.”

Reeve didn’t immediately reply, but merely retreated to the far corner of the room. And Adam was slow to realize, having a justified reason for his distraction. But as the silence persisted, he chanced a glance up and froze in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t you remember anything?” Reeve demanded in a far aggressive tone that left Adam baffled.

In what context? Did he remember gaming all night, yes. But their words seemed to refer to something resent, so… “No? Did I do something wrong?”

“Y-y-you- you kissed me!” His words of outrage and admittance to the problem was like getting doused with a large bucket of ice water. Clarity and awareness returned none too pleased. Adam rose from the bed slowly, but made no attempt to approach, as he noted Reeve stepping back further to maintain a comfort distance between them.

“If I did, I am really sorry!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew he had a small crush on Reeve but he also respected the fact that his friend was straight and he would never come onto him like that. Or at least, he intended to never come onto them. Ahhh! How could this have happened?

“If you did? What, do you think I am lying?!” His friend seemed to flare up defensively, finding fault in what little words Adam was trying carefully to use. He realized his friend wasn’t really in the right state of mind, but rather worked up in a fit of agitation. Trying to reason with him now would be counterproductive.

“Look- I think I should just go.” Reeve humphed in anger, but he made no move to stop him or vocally suggest an alternative, so he could only assume that was what his friend wanted as well. Gathering his things, he couldn’t help feeling like a kid caught stealing. The pressure in the room was suffocating and he hated feeling so put on the spot. With everything in hand, he paused in the doorway. “H-have a great rest of your night, -er day!” He gave a lopsided grin, hoping to at least end on a partially good note, but Reeve had his back to him and said nothing in return. With a disheartened sigh, Adam left the room behind, and little did he know, a friend as well.

……………..

Tensions were high any time Adam and Reeve were caught in a room together. And Mira was always having to play middle man to intervene and soothe over the contention. What had gotten into them? They were always fighting, but never were they at each other’s throats with such hostility before. It was like over the course of just a day, they suddenly realized they hated each other. But that day had long since stretched out into a full month, and their Hollow match was speedily rushing up on them. If Mira didn’t do something fast, they weren’t going to stand a chance at winning the competition.

So, she did what any best friend would do and pulled Adam aside to have a talk, whilst the group were gathered at a park for a meeting concerning their approaching match. She made sure to only drag Adam away whilst Reeve was absent in the bathroom. “What has gotten into you? You and Reeve used to be as thick as thieves, but now you can hardly stand to talk to each other, let alone be in the same room.”

Adam rocked on his heels, not liking being questioned like a convicted criminal. He knew Mira meant well, but his problems weren’t hers to come in-between. So, he stubbornly withheld sharing with the class. “Look- Reeve and I just can’t get along. End of story.”

“But why?” She persisted just as stubbornly.

Reeve exited the bathroom and headed back to their park bench none to happily, but only, as he approached, he found it empty. Did they take off without him? He frowned with contempt at the idea, but as he neared, he could make out their voices a little ways off. Crouching down, he quietly followed their voices, until he found the pair harshly whispering to each other.

“It’s never going to get better unless you talk it out?”

“Oh and what, you don’t think I tried? The guys to much of a stubborn, pompous asshole to ever listen to reason!”

“And you aren’t? Look, all I’m saying is, you two need to work it out, otherwise, we aren’t going to stand a chance in The Hollow.”

“We should just replace him on the team and be done with it! He’s always been the one holding the team back! No matter how trivial an argument, he is always having to be the one that’s right! We clearly can’t get along and I’m not about to lose just because he can’t just get over it!”

Reeve heard everything he needed to hear. They were intending on kicking him out? Not a chance. He was going to be the one to leave. He’d just find his own team. A _better_ team. One who would respect him.

 _Get over what?_ Mira just found the bait she needed to fish for the information she was after. She hated being kept in the dark. But now was also not the time to press questions. Adam was hurting and she couldn’t selfishly dig for information when they weren’t willing to give it. Whatever was hurting the pair of them, she just wanted them to be happy and friends again.

Adam divulged into a fit of laughter, that sounded harsh and bitter to her ears. It was unnerving to say the least, but that laugh was quick to fall off into a distressed, choked breath, that sounded on the verge of ending with tears. Only no tears came, save for Adam’s features turning tight and grim. She opened her arms to invite him in for a hug, that he fell into gratefully. His arms didn’t raise to return the warmth of her embrace, but she could tell his body was just trying to process all the venting it had let out.

“I’m sorry Mira…” Adam finally breathed out after some much-needed stress releasing. “I didn’t mean what I said… I was just so upset. I was letting my emotions speak for me.” Mira patted his back before pulling away to get a look at her friend’s face. He looked tired and worn out, but the tension had mostly ebbed away.

“It’s alright. But you should really talk to Reeve. I know you don’t want to, but you were once really close. Don’t let all this bickering be the end of your friendship.”

“I want to- but-“ Mira looked about ready to jump onto his words with another comeback, so he quickly blurted out, “I kissed him!” Mira’s stomach dropped at the admittance, before fluttering back up as she processed the new information. She always knew Adam secretly had a crush on Reeve, despite the African’s sexual orientation. It made her wonder if Adam was always trying to play the leader as a means to prove himself to Reeve. Or, she was looking too far into it.

“So, you and Reeve… and his hostility...” Now everything was making sense. It wasn’t Adam she needed to be talking too, or well yes, she needed to talk to both of them to help them with their stress, but it was Reeve who needed convincing if she wanted the two of them to ever get along again. Honestly, the pair of them were like thick headed bulls caged together in a fighting ring. Their arguments were almost always over something mundane, though it did keep things interesting. And she’d be lying if she didn’t get a kick out of watching them bicker in certain circumstances. It fueled her fantasy of which of the two stubborn blockheads would be the one to dominate. But not this time. This time, they were dangerously close to breaking an invisible wall of ice that was holding their relationship together.

Adam jerked his head up and down in reply. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He messed up. But big deal! He felt like Reeve was reacting over the top! ...Despite that belief, a strong part of him still couldn’t get over the guilt.

“I’ll try talking to Reeve.” Before she could even take a step, Adam grabbed her wrist. “Nuh-uh. This is my problem. I appreciate you letting me vent to you, but this isn’t your battle to fight.” She felt a little hurt with her help being rejected, but she also felt relieved knowing she wasn’t going to have to keep being the middle man. All in all, she felt proud knowing Adam was going to at least try mending their relationship on his own. His stubbornness was cracking under the strained relationship. Which was both good and bad. She just hoped it ended on a positive note.

With their talk out of the way, the pair returned to the bench, having forgotten the time with how long they’d been talking. To their relief, Reeve was still patiently waiting for them. Or at least, they thought he’d been patiently waiting for them. As they approached, Reeve stood up sharply and turned icy cold eyes on them.

“I’m quitting this team.”


	2. End of Pre-Hollow Games Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai joins the team! Out with the old, in with the new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am writing this all in one setting, so I apologize if there are grammar errors, or weird flows inbetween segments. I just want to get this first bit out before moving on to the main section of the story.

It wasn’t even a couple weeks out until their competition and they were down a player. Adam had been pulling at his hair with stress, not over the game, but over Reeve suddenly dipping out on them. Was it because they’d left him all alone, or was Reeve finally done dealing with him? Either way, he felt like shit knowing he was the cause of their falling out.

Mira would pop in and out of his room to check on him over the coming days, but he’d just wave her off like it was no big deal.

He couldn’t keep sulking around like this, so after the third day of feeling sorry for himself, he finally emerged from his dark den, and was met none to gratefully with a bright sun as he exited his house and wandered down to the street below. Mira had just been on her way over and upon seeing Adam outside for a change, she practically glowed with glee.

“About time!” She hollered. Adam squinted past the sun to make out her silhouetted from the spots in his eyes.

“Yea, well. I can’t stay cooped up forever.” He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. He couldn’t believe he let himself stay sullen for so long.

“We should go out and have some fun!” She didn’t want Adam to regress, so the first item on her bucket list was to lead them to an arcade.

“Sounds great! Where you thinking?”

“Want to go to the old arcade? We haven’t been there in a while?”

Adam perked up at the idea. “I’m game!” They had been spending most days hanging out at each other’s houses, or practicing for The Hollow meet, which left little time to visit old hangouts.

……………

Before diving into the games, the pair stopped for pizza and took their stash over to one of the side booths. Settling down into the upholster booth, their eyes rove over the various arcade games. The loud chimes and various music made it hard to talk, but right now, they didn’t need to talk. Just having the other for company was enough for Adam, and he could tell Mira felt the same. If anything, he was grateful that Mira still stood by him. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he lost her as a friend as well. Since Reeve’s sudden break from the team, Mira hadn’t even heard back from the guy. It was like he intended to cut all ties with the both of them.

Determined to not relive the past, Adam finished off the last slice of pizza and stood to dump the empty box into the trash.

Mira followed after him, but her eyes were narrowed in on something else, which he took notice to as he turned back to her, to ask her where they should start. “Mira?” He asked confused. He followed her line of sight to find a kid button mashing one of the games. At first it just appeared to be some random kid trying to smash their way to victory, but his eyes had to double take at the scoreboard. They were well past the 8k marker, which was nigh near impossible to reach, and even more so to surpass. Hell, even the highest score was barely at 7890. The game was one of the more simpler classics, called Blasto, but it was still impressive to see a kid killing at it! Just as they passed the mid 8000’s, the timer ran out and they sat back with a disappointed sigh. “Ahhh man! I was so close to beating the world record!”

Adam’s feet carried him over and he spoke up to voice his surprise. “Holy cow, man! You far surpassed the highest score!” The red-head looked up from his machine to regard the stranger, but their face split into a wide grin at the compliment and they rose out of their chair, looking all the world proud of themselves, with their chest puffed up and their head held high.

“Yea, well-“ Their words were cut short as they tripped over their own feet and face planted the carpet below.

“Ooo- you okay?” Adam offered out a hand, which was gratefully received, to help the other up.

The kid nervously laughed at their clumsiness; all valiant galor snuffed out. “Hehe, yea, two left feet! We got off on ‘the wrong foot.’ The name’s Kai!” The kid snorted out a laugh at their own bad joke but it still worked up a laugh out of Adam, and they held their hand out in greeting.

“Adam.” He met their hand for a shake and then stepped back to look them over. They looked to be about his age, maybe a couple years younger, with a lock of red hair, combed to one side. Their clothes were clean pressed, and looked to be on the fancier side, but overall, he just saw them as another kid on the block.

The kid shuffled on his feet, feeling their stare. He looked to be nervously awaiting some kind of reaction. But a reaction to what, he didn’t know. “Want to join us for a game or two?” He decided to offer. The kid, known as Kai, perked up at the offer and nodded his head eagerly. Whatever shadow crossed their expression lifted. Were they nervous about making friends? He absentmindedly wondered if this kid was someone who was frequently bullied.

……………..

They spend a good portion of the day hanging out at the arcade until it was time to call it quits. The sun had long since set and the shop was closing shortly. What had only meant to be a quick game or two, turned out to be a new friendship, as Kai was quick to fit in with Adam and Mira. He was a bit eccentric, but overall, a loveable, class-clown.

“We should hang out again!” Kai blurted out with a hopeful grin.

Adam lightly slapped Kai on the back, “For sure, man.” After losing a friend, it felt nice to connect with someone new, someone who was spirited, uplifting and always down to just go with the flow. They could never take Reeve’s spot, but they were refreshingly different in their own way.

“Do you have a number, so we can stay in contact?” Mira asked, having already pulled up a new contact to fill in.

Kai nodded excitedly and gave his details to Mira, before sharing the same with Adam. And just for the sake of ease, they created a text group to make texting easier for meetups.

…………..

For the following week, they met up with Kai on numerous occasions. No matter how spontaneous the invite, or how far the distance to travel, the kid was on the ball with meeting up. But not in the sense as someone who was lacking friends or just needed attention. On the contrary, they seemed less like a bully victim and more like, just another average kid, who was hanging out with friends, only with a more exuberant personality. So maybe Adam wasn’t making sense, but he couldn’t help over analyzing. He was often considered a thinker. And his first opinion of the kid was different than he thought. But he was different in a good way and he was grateful for having had the chance to meet them.

It was now a week out from their upcoming competition, and the group was seated outside Mira’s house. It was the first time Kai had been invited over to one of their houses, and he was giddy with the level of trust he’d developed with his newfound friends. Mira had seemed wary of inviting Kai at first, but after some courage, she decided to ask him to come over.

Kai’s reaction to her introducing her two fathers didn’t even seem to faze him. He just smiled and greeted them with the same enthusiasm he shared with Adam and Mira, before following his friends to the back patio.

They weren’t planning on doing anything all that fun, just talk a bit about the Hollow, but she figured, Kai was into games, he might get a kick out of learning they were competitors in the virtual game show. And boy was she right!

“Wait, wait, wait! So, you are telling me that you are both competing in the upcoming Hollow competition?!” He bounced on his heels excitedly at the news. To join the bracket, you had to enter a full year in advance and spent hours on end practicing. Memories were always forgotten, but muscle memory was the key to success. “Who’s your third member!?” Kai asked eagerly. He could very well be talking to the future champs! The thought alone was enough to make him nearly faint from excitement. He’d then be friends with some of the coolest kids on earth!

“He dropped out.” Adam spoke up with a bit of a bite behind his words. Kai edged forward on his seat for the answer, but when none was given, he looked to Mira for an explanation, when Adam failed to say more.

“We had a falling out with our friend.” She answered sadly.

“How are you going to compete without a third member?”

“How about you join us?!” She jumped up from her seat, looking all the world excited. She hadn’t even considered inviting Kai, but now that the idea had presented itself, it made perfect sense! The guy was seriously good at games and was also a fan of the Hollow. How perfect was that?

Adam looked baffled by the sudden invite, but it made sense. Without a third member, they couldn’t compete, but now they were practically given a solution on a silver platter.

“Really? You want ME on your team?” Somebody pinch him because this just had to be a dream! To be friends with the champs was one thing, but to have his own plaque on the wall was an entirely new scenario he could have never considered.

“We’d love to have you on board!” The game was already stressful enough, what with losing one’s memories and being surrounded by strangers, but to have someone giddy, and happy go lucky around, they were sure to have higher morale. “It would be nice to have someone upbeat on the team for a change.” It sure beat having someone like Reeve around… Adam bit back the urge to add that sour bit to his statement. But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he chided himself for even thinking it in the first place. Reeve was no longer his concern.

…………….

Adam couldn’t believe it when the day of the Hollow games rolled around and lo and behold, Reeve was still a participant, only this time, he was a batter for the opposing team. So that was what happened to Reeve. He ditched them to join some randos!? Well only one of the two on the other team were randos. He recognized Skeet as being one of Mira’s oldest childhood friends. They never talked much, but he was at least on good terms with the guy. Only now, he was feeling nothing but anger towards the blonde. How dare he think it was okay to take their x-member and recruit him onto their side! Reeve glanced over at him, and caught his eye. The pair glared at each other, until Reeve flashed him one of his coy smiles. Which was a sure-fire way to get Adam worked up. Mira must have felt his hostility because his glare was broken by a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Leave it, Adam.” She was practically scolding him, so he shrugged his shoulder free of her hand. He wasn’t in the mood for one of her mothering lectures. Turning his attention away from both her and Reeve, he focused on the announcer as they read over the rules and objective of the game, although it was hard to listen when he was riled up with other thoughts.

“Players to your stations!” _‘Huh, what?’_ Adam blinked rapidly, having been lost in a daze. They were starting already? Turning back to the machines, Mira and Kai were getting situated into their seats, leaving Adam to hustle over into his own pod, but not without flashing Reeve another hard stare. His rival was already watching him like a hawk, making his skin crawl with annoyance. So, this was how it was going to be? Fine. Bring it. He wasn’t about to lose to Reeve or his new team. He’d prove once and for all who was better.


	3. Recape of S2E1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a semi-abbreviated recap of the first episode of season 2.

“What the hell…” Adam groaned and sat up in his bed with a raging headache. Last he remembered, his team had beaten the final boss level of the Hollow and had pressed the winning button, but everything past that was a blur. Did they actually win, or not?

His memories were back, so he assumed so… except for one problem.

Adam’s eyes widened as he got a good look at his room. Digital. It was all digital! Holding his hand out in front of his face, he looked over the all too familiar avatar model. Was he missing something? Had they started another game without realizing it, or was this a special second level? And… with memories?

“Mira, Kai?” He called out for them, testing to see if they were around. No response. “Hmm…” Walking over to his vanity, he peered at his own reflection. It felt weird seeing his avatar body whilst standing in a very detailed replica of his room. “Am I really home, or am I still in the game?”

He had no one to ask for answers, which meant, he needed to look for clues. Setting about his room, he went through any cubbyhole or drawer he could find, hoping something would tip him off as to what was going on. “Ahhh- come on. Give me some kind of clue!” His room looked to be just as he left it before the Hollow match. Nothing was out of place. Getting agitated, he overturned his backpack, strewing about the contents in his haste for a sign or hint of some sort. “ANYTHING!” That was when a photograph drew his attention, having slipped free from between the pages of one of his books, when it had been dumped non-to-gracefully onto the floor. Pulling the picture out, he stared down at it with surprise. “Reeve?” Ugh… his head hurt with the conflicting memories between his real life and the life he’d lived trapped within the Hollow with no recollection of himself. It was like a deadbolt lock was released and everything came pouring back. He grit his teeth as his headache reared its ugly head again at the unwanted rush.

He had little time to nurse his head, as the sound of a creaking door startled him. Tearing his eyes away from the photo, he watched the door to his bedroom fearfully as it slowly swung open on its hinges. Getting to his feet, he raised his fists defensively to the unknown danger. Whatever was about to come through that door, he was ready to face it head on. “Bring it!” He challenged.

First came a snout, then a paw, until the full body emerged. “Puddles?” Adam called out confused. His little terrier pranced over to him at the sound of their name and sat down in front of him eagerly. Adam knelt down in front of his canine friend, finding it hard to believe he was here too. With a painfully slow motion, he reached out to scratch his dog behind his ears, to which, Puddles happily yapped and leaned into the touch. This was making even less sense than before. It was one thing to wake up in a carbon copied room, but another to have his actual dog sitting at his feet, looking like another digital copy, but acting identical to the real thing.

“Hmmm…” But how could he be sure this dog wasn’t just coded to look like Puddles? “If this is real…” He needed to try a test. “Okay Puddles… Clean up, isle 3!” He enclosed his arms into a wide circle and looked to his dog expectantly. To his surprise, his dog gave a bark in understanding and leapt through his encircled arms, to land on his bed and pull up the covers. With the task completed, his dog sat back on his hunches and barked excitedly, looking to be praised.

“Oookay… you got that one right.” That wasn’t just a simple trick that could be easily programmed. He was starting to think this was the real deal. This was starting to get freaky…

Puddles gave a sudden bark, causing Adam to about jump out of his skin startled, and then bolted out the door.

“Hey, where you going?” He called after his dog, who bounded down the hall happily.

He halted in the doorway to peer out cautiously. He could feel his hands were getting clammy with nervousness, so he wiped them on his pants as he stepped out slowly from his room. Everything still looked to be eerily familiar. And as he walked further down the hall, old frames mirrored the ones in his actual home, although these versions had been altered to share the games stylized avatars. This wasn’t right. There just had to be a catch.

Making his way downstairs, he could both feel and hear the drumming of blood rushing in his ears as he dropped to the bottom landing and continued onwards down the main hall. His senses were on full alert, awaiting some kind of twist or jump scare. That was when he heard the clinking of pots coming from the kitchen. Looking around his surroundings for some kind of weapon, he spotted an umbrella just within reach and quickly snatched it up. He felt a bit better knowing he had some means to protect himself. With weapon in hand, he approached the kitchen, keeping his back pressed to the wall to avoid being seen to ready a sneak attack. But just as he rounded the corner and raised his arms to strike, he faltered at the sight of his mom preparing pancakes on the stove.

“Mom, is that you?” What was she doing in the Hollow? Wasn’t the hollow only suppose to be comprised of teams of three? And more importantly, how was his dog here if the game was designed around human players?

“Oh good, you’re up. I was beginning to think I was making these banana nut pancakes for Puddles.” His mom sounded, acted and talked just like his real mother. But that can’t be… His mom wasn’t much of a gamer. There was no way she’d ever take part in a Hollow competition. And then he caught sight of his dad, who was simultaneously scrolling through his tablet, eating breakfast and grading school papers. All very normal mornings he experienced on a daily basis.

“Dad?” He walked over with a tongue in his cheek, not buying any of this for one second. Bending down for a better angle, he looked his dad over and then reached out a hand to poke them in the forehead.

His dad turned to regard him with a raised brow. “Son? Did you just poke me?” Adam took a step back, at a loss for words. “I-I’m sorry, I just thought… it’s just… why are you hear?! This was the last place I expected to find you guys!”

His mom and dad shared a confused look. “In our home?”

“What? No- here, in the Hollow!” He gestured to his black tee with The Hollow logo printed on the front. When they showed no signs of recollection, he continued, “as an avatar! Digital.” He took hold of his mom’s hand, and held it up for her, “see?” Maybe they just didn’t realize they were in a game yet.

“Sorry… I don’t follow.”

He could feel his frustration starting to bubble as he looked for some way to get it through to them. “This looks like our house, but it’s not, and i-it looks like you, but…” He grabbed his head as the pounding of his headache got louder. Nothing was making sense. Why wasn’t it making sense?

“So, let me get this straight. We’re digital and none of this is real?” Yes! Finally! Adam turned around excited to hear his dad catching on. “Yea, exactly!”

“Well that’s great news because I did not want to finish grading these essays for ‘ _Monday’_!” His dad singsonged the last word teasingly and picked up one of the essays to wave it around playfully. His mom cracked up to the joke, but Adam’s face fell as he realized his parents weren’t taking him seriously.

His mom’s laugh cut off at the look of his dejected expression and she instead changed topic. “Where’s Mira? She always comes over for pancake day.”

“Yea… she does, but…” That was right! A lot of things weren’t making sense. But if he could just get ahold of Mira, maybe she could clue him in on what was going on. “I’ve got to go, bye!” He wasted no time sprinting out of the kitchen, making a beeline for the door. His mom called after him perplexed, “but, your breakfast?” Food was the last thing on his mind right now. “Not hungry, thanks though!” He slammed the door behind him in his haste to get some answers. He felt wrong just ditching them like that, but if they weren’t real, then none of this mattered.

He sprinted out into the middle of the street and had to pause as he realized even his neighborhood looked to be the same as back home. It was all here! His stomach clenched painfully in response to his rising anxiety.

“Morning Adam, what glorious weather, huh?” He flinched at being called and looked to the source of the voice, finding his neighbor outside cleaning his car. They were another digital replica, but they seemed just as real as his parents and that just freaked him out more. Giving a nervous wave, he sprinted away even faster. _‘…Okay, calm down Adam.’_ He had a goal now. Find Mira. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed her number and held the phone up to his ear.

In the midst of his run, a foot was suddenly coming between him and the sidewalk. He was left with little time to react, as he came toppling forward and landed with a huff onto the hard cement, knocking his cell out of his hand in the process. He groaned and looked up to find what he’d hit, but to his horror, what he saw was his old school bullies from way back in pre-school. _‘What the hell was going on?!’_ These kids didn’t look a day older from the time he’d last seen them.

“Ahhhh, what’s the matter, did dumb dumb Adam trip and fall?” He moved to sit up, but the two lackeys grabbed either arm, holding them behind his back. That should be a concern, but at the moment, it didn’t matter as he was still trying to process what he was seeing.

“Can’t be. Gavin Connors, from Ms. Jacobsons class? But- you’re just like I remember you. You haven’t aged at all!”

“And you’re old!”

“H-how is it possible…”

“I don’t know, how is it possible that you are still a loser?” The kid’s friends laughed at his taunts, only egging on Gavin to raise his fists challengingly. “Come on Adam, fight me? Don’t you know how to fight?” He was starting to get PTSD flashbacks from the old days, when the kids would pick on him in a similar fashion. It wasn’t helping either that now the two lackeys were chanting fight, fight, fight right into his ear. Fighting was the last thing he wanted to do right now, so when Gavin threw the first punch, he shimmied out of the lackeys hold and broke away into a sprint. “Sorry guys, gotta run!”

He looked for some place to get away from his pursuers, but no matter how far he ran, they seemed to be right on his heels, chanting their old taunting words at him. His attention was less focused on what was in front of him and more to check on how close the bullies where, that he ran into another familiar face.

“Hi Adam, glorious weather, huh?” He recognized the gal to be Cassandra, his mom’s friend, who was out on a jog. He didn’t have time to chat, so he just nodded his head in agreeance and sprinted past her. Where to hide, where to hide!? He needed to put some distance between himself and the kids, fast! In his haste to escape, he made a wrong turn and came up on a deadend. The alleyway he turned down was blocked by a brick building, with a singular door, but when he tried the handle, it was locked. _‘Shit.’_

He quickly turned around, hoping to retrace his steps back onto the street, but the kids were already at the end of the path, blocking his escape. He held his hands up passively, hoping he could perhaps talk his way out of the situation. “I don’t want to hurt you. Come on, can’t we talk it out?”

But Gavin didn’t appear to be listening. “This is going to be fun!” They punched their fist into the palm of their hand as they approached.

“Right, talking it out wasn’t really our thing.”

Gavin made to throw another fist, but Adam reacted faster and flipped over them with ease. His body responded just as it had during the Hollow games, and he nimbly landed on Gavin’s head, using it as a spring board to launch himself up onto the wall, followed by another acrobatic jump off said wall, onto a ledge lining the opposite building. His chest heaved with his sharp intakes of breath under the high stress, but then it dawned on him that he’d just used his powers again. “Huh? I still have my powers?” 

His show of skill momentarily pacified the bully’s lackeys, but Gavin wasn’t impressed. Not after having been shoved into a stack of boxes from a foot planted atop his head. “What, are you scared of a couple of 10 year olds?” It wasn’t so much their age that was the problem. It was having to relieve the past he thought he’d moved on from.

“You can’t stay up there forever!” The lackeys started to pick up whatever trash they could find, throwing it up at him. He struggled to dodge the projectiles, having little space to move around on the shallow ledge. This wasn’t getting him anywhere, so he made another lunge for the street. Now that he knew he had his powers again, he felt confident in his ability to make the jump, and sure enough, he cleared the full alley and landed back onto the sidewalk below. Not wasting a single second, he took off into another full body sprint with the group of kids hot on his trail. How the hell were they keeping up?

It wasn’t long until the sound of a motor engine drew close, thankfully drowning out the voices of the bullies chanting his name. From the corner of his eye, a moped zipped into his line of sight, with an all to familiar rider seated on the back. Thank the stars, Mira had the most gracious of timing. “Get on!” She hollered. He didn’t need to be told twice, as he jumped onto the back of her bike in one fell swoop.

“Oh no, you’re gonna get it!” Gavin roared in anger as his chase was meet with an intervention.

“Go, go, go!” Adam shouted, and to his relief, the moped picked up speed, putting distance between him and his pursuers.

“Good to see you bud!” Mira looked over her shoulder to smile at him.

“You too.” _‘You have no idea…’_ Tension bleed out of his body as he finally had some solace knowing Mira and Kai were with him again. “Not sure I can handle an atomic wedgie on top of waking up in this crazy place.” Mira chuckled to his bad joke, meanwhile, Kai had to part with his box of donuts to distract their chasers.

……..

The group meet up at Kai’s place, and boy did they have a lot to talk about. Never mind the fact that Kai turned out to be rich! Much more pressing matters were on hand. Firstly, why were they still in The Hollow? Second, how could their parents all be there but not know the game existed in the first place, and lastly, why were their nightmares coming to life and chasing them? Okay, so maybe there were even more questions that needed to be answered, but at the moment, these three questions took precedence.

They figured their best bet to finding answers would be to find Weirdy, but no matter how loud they called for him, with the signature, “help please,” they got no response.

“Like I’ve been telling you, this is all just a dream!” Kai had been spouting that nonsense since the moment they met up and it was really starting to irk Mira and Adam.

“ _Ooooor_ , if this is a new level, then the rules could be totally different.” Adam was feeling pretty confidence they were in a new level. At least it made far more sense than them being in some kind of dream.

Mira paced back and forth on the bed, as she contemplated their situation. Only Weirdy could tell them what was going on, so perhaps the challenge was to find him? “Well if the weird guy won’t come to us, then we’ll just have to go to him, to the Hollow games studio.”

“Where we were _supposed_ to wake up!” Adam was feeling down for this plan. At least now they had a lead they could follow. “Let’s go!” He was all to eager to begin their search, but they were interrupted by Kai’s butler, who started to shoo them out since it had gotten late. At the reminder of the time of day, they looked out the window of Kai’s bedroom to see the sky blackened by the night. Grrr-

“Alright, we meet up tomorrow then. Meet us in front of Holy Donuts at 8am.”

Kai just waved them off, still trapped in the delusion that if he went to sleep, he’d wake up back in reality.

Exiting the mansion, Adam and Mira took the moped back home, but along the way, Mira started to insist on them starting their search without Kai. While he was just as eager to continue looking for answers, he also considered the possibility, that perhaps them just living their normal lives for one more night might produce some kind of result towards the games progress. But that wasn’t the answer Mira was looking for. She was already upset enough as it was to still be trapped in the game. The last thing she wanted was to be forced to have to pretend that those things back home were her actual parents.

She was by far the most freaked out in the group by their current family situation, but she wasn’t alone… To his frustration, she even started to accuse him of being a fake too, but he had to remind himself that she was just scared and confused. So, with some gentle coaxing, he managed to convince her he was real. He was still the same best friend she grew up with. In the end, he persuaded her to give it one more night. She was reluctant, but at least she agreed. Or so he thought.

It all started to spiral downhill from there. When morning came and Mira was nowhere to be found, Kai and Adam paid her house a visit, only to learn she never came home.

 _‘She didn’t…’_ If Adam had to wag a bet, she went straight for the Hollow epicenter. Alone to boot. He was not happy.


	4. Shadows Lurk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reeve wakes up back home, only it's not what he expected. What's more, he keeps seeing glimpses of what he believes to be his dad. But it can't be. His dads dead...

“Gah!” Reeve snapped awake and sat up abruptly on his bed. Where was he? What had he been doing? His head hurt trying to recap, but last he remembered, he was trapped in a virtual forest, playing The Hollow, but everything was falling apart. It was like the entire game became corrupt. He thought he was going to actually die as the forest floor disappeared from out from under him and he started to plummet into the void. Next thing he knew, he was waking up… in bed? His hand swept across the familiar sheets.

“AHH!” He flailed backwards when he got a good look at his hand. “What the fuck!?” It was still digital. In fact… he glanced around his room, it was _all_ digital. So… was he home, or not?

“Skeet, Vanessa?” He called out for his teammates, to test if they were still around. Nothing. Mmmm… scooting over to the edge of the bed, he threw his legs over the side to get off, and stepped out to the center of his room. Spinning on his heels, he looked the space over, noting it was all identical to his own room. “This is trippy…”

Standing around wasn’t going to provide answers, so he went straight for his door and exited the room. As he walked down the hall, his eyes slowly rove over the wall hangings. Everything was an exact replica of his own home, even the family photos.

Getting to the stairs, he paused in thought. If this was his home, then perhaps… “Mom, Shaniqua?” He called out for his family experimentally.

“We’re in the living room, baby.” His mom’s reply about psyched him out. He wasn’t actually expecting a reply. But now he knew he wasn’t alone, so he took the stairs down, dropping by two steps at a time and bolted into the living room. On his way, he slipped on the carpet and skid his knee when he tripped out into the family quarters.

His mom looked up from her book surprised by him bulldozing his way into the living room. “What in high heavens has gotten into you?”

“How are you guys here?” His blood was pumping wildly from his high adrenaline.

“Why wouldn’t we be here?” His sister fixed him a quizzical stare. She had her hands laid out on her lap, with a napkin under them, and was in the middle of painting her nails.

“Because this is the Hollow game. …I think.” Now he wasn’t so sure.

“What is that?” His mom closed the book and set it aside to listen.

“You know, the virtual game I’d been training the last year for, the one I joined a team for… _that game_!” At their lack of a response, he groaned in annoyance. “Never mind. I don’t have time for this.” Whipping out his cell from his pocket, he dialed up Skeet’s number and started for the front door.

“Where are you going?” Reeve faltered on the doorknob. He felt bad ditching them like this, but he suspected this wasn’t his real family. “I’m going to a friends.” With that, he left the house and sped walked away.

The cell only rang three times before the line was picked up and a familiar voice answered. “Yo, what up man!” Reeve couldn’t immediately reply as his hold on his cell about slipped from the sight in front of him. His entire neighborhood was a virtual replica. His pause was enough for Skeet to ask another question that roused his attention “…This is the real Reeve, right?”

“You are seeing this too?” He held the phone back up to his ear, needing to hear their answer.

“Yea, pretty trippy, right?” You have no idea the relief Reeve felt to know he wasn’t crazy. There was someone else who was experiencing what he was experiencing and aware of how fucked up everything was. “I was zipping through the forest of the Hollow game and then suddenly the floor beneath my feet disappeared and I was falling into nothingness. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in my room, like I hadn’t just entered the void, and bam! The world suddenly became digital. It’s almost like the game was on the fritz and corrupted the real world or something.” Skeet would have continued to ramble, but Reeve cut him off. “And what of Vanessa?”

“Vanessa? How should I know? Last I’d seen her, she flew off on us.”

“I’m going to try calling her. I’ll call you right back.” He didn’t leave Skeet time to reply as he ended the call and immediately dialed up their other teammate. To his frustration, his call was directed to their voicemail. _'Damnit.'_ And he had no idea where she lived, so he couldn’t very well go looking for her. Well, at least he could call up Skeet again and put together a plan of action. Dialing up their number, he about pressed the call button, when his attention caught sight of something that had him faltering.

“Dad?” It was only a glimpse, but a silhouette of what he could swear was his father, appeared in his line of sight before disappearing around the corner. Pocketing his cell, he chased after the entity. Coming around the bend, he paused when he was faced with nothing but a barren street. That didn’t make sense. He knew he saw somebody. Walking a little slower, he looked for a sign or a path for where the person could have gone. Was he just seeing things? There was no way it was his father. They weren’t a part of this world anymore. But the resemblance had been uncanny.

The hairs on the back of Reeve’s neck startled to prickle and stand on end as the sensation of being watched crept up on him. He shuffled on his feet, looking for any signs of danger, but he was alone. At least it wasn’t night. He’d probably be losing his shit right about now. Shaking it off as nothing more than being paranoid, he walked a bit further forward, just as a shadow dipped behind him. _‘What was that?_ ’ It disappeared so quickly, that he had little time to process it. Reeve cast a nervous glance around at his surroundings, but there were no people, no cars… there wasn’t anything remotely close enough to make the shadow he saw and it had moved. He took a step back, wanting to just pretend he never saw anything and be on his way back to meeting up with Skeet, until another silhouette popped into view. It was only visible for a split second before it disappeared behind a house across the street. Under any normal circumstances, he wouldn’t stupidly chase after something that so clearly seemed to be a trap, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the thing he was chasing was his dad.

Reeve grit his teeth in annoyance and sprinted after the person. But like before, by the time he got to where it had been, they were gone. What was going on? Another shadow flew behind him, only this time, it looked to be far closer than before. Reeve reacted on impulse, as his eyes rolled back behind his head and his sockets took on a bright glow of white. He grabbed hold of the nearest object he could use as a weapon, which ended up being someone’s outdoor generator and whipped it around himself, in a wide sweep. The metal box grinded painfully with the cement and then clashed harshly into a stranger’s fencing. He blinked rapidly in surprise that, one, he still had his powers, and two, he didn’t hit anything. Was he just seeing things? Or was he fighting an intangible being? He could feel his fear slowly rising. “W-whatever you are, or whoever you are, stop fucking with me!” He was getting a lot of spooky vibes that just weren’t sitting well with him. After that, he kept a close eye over one shoulder as he fumbled for the cell in his pocket. He would just call up Skeet and met up. Being alone right now was really starting to get to him.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his raging pulse. He couldn’t let on how freaked he was. But whatever was stalking him didn’t give him the courtesy or time to calm down, just as a chill rippled down his spine and the shadow of a figure loomed behind him, meshing into his own shadow cast against the sidewalk. His heart thudded against his ribcage to the feel of ghostly like fingers trailing down the length of his arm but it wasn’t soft, it was rough like sandpaper to the skin and it left a burning sensation in its wake. “Jesus!” He shouted in alarm and spun around to face the danger, but there was nothing there. He looked left and right, even checked behind himself regularly to keep all bases covered, but he was still alone. Holding up his arm to inspect it, he expected to find claw marks, but it remained unscathed. It was broad daylight! Weren’t nightmares only supposed to chase after you at night? Or better yet, what kind of game even was this!? Last he checked, it was an adventure game, not a horror! He was really feeling motivated to find Weirdy and beat him within an inch of his life for putting him through this. He was done! He just wanted to end this game and go back home.

Fuck looking for that silhouette. He ditched that effort and instead punched in Skeet’s number.  
“Heeeello~” Skeet greeted, sounding far to at ease with everything that was going on.

“I’m going straight for the hollow game studio to get some answers, you in?” 

…………..

Since the last encounter, whatever that creature had been had seemingly disappeared. Or at least he hoped. But the silhouette still seemed to come and go, almost like it was beckoning him to follow. He wasn’t sure if that shadow was tied to it or not, but as long as he steered clear of the silhouette, it left him alone. Maybe there was a connection? But that didn’t matter anymore as Skeet came skidding to a halt at his side.

“Yo man. What up.” Skeet flashed him a lazy grin, and a limp peace sign.

He smiled back, finding peace in their presence. There was definitely safety in numbers.

“Hey guys, wait up!” The pair looked to their left at being called and found Vanessa sprinting towards them with a tense expression. Well that resolved the issue of trying to locate her.

“What’s gotten under your skin?” Skeet asked.

“You don’t want to know…” She only slowed her run when she was at their side and had to bend over forward, clutching her knees for support, to catch her breath.

Reeve folded his arms across his chest and looked off into the distance, keeping a close eye on the horizon for danger. “Is strange shit chasing after you too?”

Skeet raised a brow but Vanessa nodded her head enthusiastically. “And we should really go!” She urged. Reeve wanted to ask why, but Vanessa didn’t leave him room to say anything more as she started to frantically push at their backs.

“Hey, no need for pushing!” Skeet pulled ahead of them. “I’ll scout out the building.” And with that, he zipped away. Now with it just being the two of them, Vanessa tightly wove her arms across her chest and looked unnerved. Reeve wasn’t the best at offering emotional support, so he just stepped up to nudge her side. When Vanessa looked up at him questioningly, he held his arm out and looked anywhere but at her. At least she got the message, as she latched onto the offered arm. “Thanks…” He merely grunted in reply and started to walk them closer to the building.

……..

Skeet did two full rotations around the perimeter before returning to his teammates. “The doors are all guarded or locked but I found an open window on the second floor. That’s our ticket in.”

“Right.” They followed Skeet to the far side of the building, who scaled the wall and disappeared through the opening. Getting a better hold over Reeve’s arm, Vanessa lifted him off the ground and flew them up after Skeet.

Once inside, they found the building to be abandoned. Or, the staff was all on vacation at the same time. Which seemed about as likely as it was to start storming on the spot. A clash of lightning and thunder rang out, and in seconds, a heavy down pour of rain came crashing down outside the window. “What the hell…” He was joking. Why the fuck did it actually start to down pour? That wasn’t normal weather behavior at all!

“Good thing we got indoors when we did- heh heh…” Vanessa strained a grin, hoping to lighten the mood a little, but her joke was met with blank stares from Skeet and Reeve. “Never mind…” She dipped her head down to avoid their eyes.

“Come on. Let’s search for the weird dude and get out of here.” Once again, their friend sped off without them, but Reeve wasn’t going to wait around for their report, so he started his own search. Vanessa remained quiet after her last comment, but she put in her own effort to scour around the various rooms for clues. 

At the sound of shattering glass, Vanessa and Reeve ceased their search and looked up with tension. Someone was here… Shifting into a more comfortable fighting stance, Reeve’s eyes started to hum with energy, ready to pummel any threat with his power.

And that pummeling about ended Skeet who came bursting through the door in a mad dash. “Dudes- we gotta- YAHH!” He froze with his arms held up over his head as a rain of books, pencils and other objects bashed into the wall around him.

“Don’t do that, man! I almost skewered you alive!” Reeve’s eyes reverted back to normal to fix the blonde with a harsh glare. He was really on edge. And here this idiot was, running around without a second thought.

“Sorry man, but we gotta get out of here!” Red laser lights filtered into the room, not giving him time to explain, but no explanation was needed at this point. “RUN!” The group bolted for a second door that lead out into the hallway as a stream of red blasts lit up the room they’d just been in. Now out in the open, they got a good look at the situation they were in. A whole legion of drones was flying about the building. A few took notice to their appearance and turned laser pointers on them.

“What did you do!?” Vanessa demanded angrily. Now they were having to run for their lives because Skeet couldn’t just stick with the group.

“I-I didn’t do anything! I heard a loud shatter of glass and went to inspect it, only before I got there, I found drones taking up the place. I tried to duck down before they’d see me, but then one of them came up behind me and started to give chase! Next thing I know, a line of them were after me!”

The group bolted down the hall, looking for a way out. Only one room stood out amidst the rest, which had a large metal door set in the entrance. They didn’t have time to hesitate as they pried it open and ran inside.

“A portal!” Skeet cried out in relief. If was either face the drones or take their chances with the unknown, and Skeet was leaning more towards the unknown. It was either now or never, so without a second thought, he took the lead through the portal. And his two companions plunged in after him, with Vanessa clutching Reeve’s arm tightly for support.


	5. Back to the Hollow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All parties are now back in the Hollow but things are not as they remember and some friends have been lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I was going to post this Sunday and then totally got caught up in other distractions. Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy!

There was a light breeze and the chirping of birds that slowly roused Reeve awake. He turned his head and squinted past the sunlight to see a stretch of grassy plains. Huh? Where… He pushed his body up onto all fours and flinched from the resulting backpain that followed. Ahh- Pulling one arm behind his back, he massaged over the abused area. Well… they weren’t dead. He was pretty sure spirits couldn’t feel pain.

!!! That was right! They were being hunted by laser blasting drones! “Vanessa, Skeet?” He did a quick scan of the area, and found Vanessa lying to his right, but no Skeet.

At her name being called, Vanessa groaned and shifted awake, to rub her bleary eyes. “Reeve?” She called back in response.

“I’m here. But I’m not sure where Skeet is.” That seemed to shake off the rest of her weariness because she jumped to her feet and looked in all directions to observe their surroundings. “Where-“

“No idea.” He followed her example and rose to his feet. The last thing he could recall was jumping through the portal and then suddenly they were falling out of a tree. He had spooned Vanessa against his chest, trying to protect her from the fall and then everything blacked out. He could only assume his twinged back was from having landed back first onto the ground.

Brushing off the leaves and dirt that clung to his clothes, he started down the hill.

“W-what, where are you going?” Vanessa scurried over to walk beside him, but she was still on the fence with leaving their spot.

“There is no use staying put in one place. We need to search for clues.” …to end this whole mess.

“And Skeet-?”

He glanced over at her from the corner of his eye. “Skeet probably took off ahead of us to scout out the area and with his speed, he can catch up to us in no time.” That seemed to qualm some of her worries, as she stopped asking questions. Or rather, she stopped talking altogether. Which he was grateful for, but she was almost to quiet. “Something on your mind.”

She looked off into the distance and started to walk a little faster. “Nope. Nothing.”

He had to increase his own pace to stay in line with her. If she wasn’t wanting to talk, fine by him. At least you couldn’t say he didn’t try.

Their little walk had no goal, no predetermined direction, no clues to go off of, save for waiting for something to happen, and it was making the pair of teammates very on edge. If Skeet were here, he’d know how to keep things interesting, but he wasn’t. And actually, it had been quite a while for the blonde to still not make an appearance. Vanessa and Reeve’s walk slowed to a snail’s pace as they shared the same thought. Why wasn’t Skeet back yet?

“Reeve, I’m really starting to worry about Skeet.”

“Don’t worry. Skeet’s to fast to catch. At the first sign of danger, he’ll just zip away.” They should really be prioritizing their own situation. They couldn’t get around as fast, and these hills seemed to go on for miles.

“I know… but what if he is lost? Or he can’t find us again?” They really should have at least provided some kind of clue at the top of the hill for Skeet to follow.

“He’ll find us. Stop worrying.” He turned his sights to the horizon, squirting past the high sun and found what looked to be a distinct hill in the distance. Perhaps that was a place of interest they needed to check out. At the very least, it was the start to a true objective, rather than all this blind walking.

Vanessa followed his gaze and frowned. That was definitely suspicious looking… and it was all they got to go off of at the moment. If anything, Skeet would have been drawn to it to, so that encouraged her to press forward. She could only hope Skeet was there waiting for them.

…………………………

Kai and Adam tumbled to the ground, as the portal dispensed them out like straws. That drop hadn’t been pleasant. Getting to their feet to dust off their clothes, they looked around for where they’d landed. They found themselves outside an old, ruin castle and no Mira. Where even were they?

The map was entirely different from when they last played, which brought up the question of how much time had passed since their game. Or, they’d found a new part of the map they’d left unexplored.

Kai decided to try calling for Weirdy again, hoping that now that they were actually back in the Hollow, it would work. Nothing. Even their memories were still preserved. There was a lot to take in by being back in the hollow but without the game’s rules.

Adam was still hinged on the idea that this was some new kind of bonus level. Kai wasn’t convinced…

It wasn’t helping either that Mira had gone on without them. So, for their first agenda, they needed to scout out the area and look for any sign of Mira.

Finding a broken patch in the castle wall, the two saddled through the opening and walked deeper through the dark corridors.

As they walked, Kai nervously rubbed his wrists and glanced around at the growing darkness. “Um, Adam, getting kinda impossible to see, huh?”

Wow, seriously? Adam settled his hands on his hips and gave Kai that dubious and assessing look. “Said the kid with the torch hands …”

“Oh, right. Hehe.” Kai chuckled nervously before illuminating his hands with fire. Annnnd then… he let out that, I’m gonna die scream, that had Adam fully tensing up in apprehension, only to catch a glimpse of what could _ever be so frightening_ , before the fire was extinguished. It was their shadows.

Goddamnit. “Ugh…” What. A. Teammate.

The clattering of old bricks, followed by high pitch squelching returned Adam’s alarm, and he nudged Kai’s side. “Kai, lights!”

The redhead quickly lit his right hand, to give them vision and then immediately regretted it. They were walking through a whole colony of roaches. They yelped in surprise and bolted out of the swarm for the next room over. “Ew ew ew ew EW!” Kai danced on his feet to shake off any bugs that might have latched onto him. That had been incredibly disgusting.

But the bugs were turning out to be the least of their problems. A cackled laugh drew their attention up into the rafters, where they could hear someone, or something scuttling around out of view. Kai and Adam put their backs together and faced forward with arms raised, awaiting whatever might jump out at them. Whatever was jumping around them moved to fast to follow and then in a flurry of a red blur, a slash lashed out at Kai, slicing him across the finger. “Ouch!” Kai dropped to the floor and held his hand up dramatically, droning out how he was going to die from blood loss. Adam dropped to his knees at Kai’s side, fearing for their life by the show they were putting on and inspected the wound. It was basically the size of a paper cut. “At the rate your bleeding, decades.” Kai opened his eyes to see the injury for himself and blushed embarrassed. “Oh.”

The sound of gurgled choking interrupted their little “play,” and they glanced up find the creature had ceased dashing around and was now perched atop a statue.

“I can’t stand the sight of blood!”

What? “Uh, then you might wanna stop swinging that big knife at people!” Would have saved Kai a sliced finger.

The creature jumped down to the ground in front of them and glared up at them with an aged face covered in pimples. A witch? Another cursory glance had them taking notice to their very distinct hat. A gnome? The gnome was a little old lady, who looked to have seen better days.

“But I must! If my cap dries out, ooooh, _I die_!” She peeled back her cap and jerked it out into the open between them, holding it up for them to take. “Now hurry and put some of that…” She made another gag sound before continuing, “blood on it, you bloviating fleshbag!”

Kai wasn’t feeling in the generous mood, not with the gnome having slashed his finger and then demand he refill her cap with his blood. “You are _not_ a very nice gnome!”

The gnome blinked her eyes, looking all pleading and grateful, but their attitude divulged into sarcastic, screaming, and what do you know, more demands.

Kai folded his arms across his chest, and turned his nose to the air, acting snooty and unreceptive, which had Adam intervening. 

“Kai, if we’re in a game…” Then this was merely a test to pass and then they could progress.

That brought a pause for consideration and then the redhead finally let out a groaned agreeance and he snatched up the cap to dab his finger against.

The gnome was just as grateful as you can imagine, if her yelling was anything to go off of. But Adam was still patient with her and gently insisted on where they could find Mira.

To their relief, the angry little smol agreed to offer them a wee dab of help, but her help was nothing more than a riddle, before she disappeared with no trace. _If you wish, look for water without fish._

“Great! This’ll be fun!” Kai wasn’t about to be slowed down and he proudly strode forward, declaring he was great at riddles.

“No, you’re really, really not.” Adam sighed in exasperation, but needless to say, he followed after Kai.

Feeling more courageous, the normally spooked teen took the lead, charging through each corridor on the hunt for water, till he caught sight of a puddle.

“A water without fish!” He jumped into the first puddle, expecting to find a portal, but instead, only managing to douse Adam in the after spray.

“Heeeey!”

Kai glanced back apologetically, “Wrong puddle, buy my theory is sound.” He was determined to be right, as he tried each puddle lining the hall.

Could Kai be any more childish? He was really starting to get annoyed. “Kai, I know you’re trying to help, but stop!” He stomped past them and threw his arms up into the arm in aggravation. “It’s annoying.”

The redhead pursed his lips and followed after his teammate. “You know, if you think I’m so annoying, why’d you and Mira choose me for your team?” He knew they let him on because they just happened to have an opening, but he also thought it was because they considered him a friend. They spent some time together before the competition, and they had quite a bit of fun, but ever since they woke back up in their digital rooms, it was almost like he was being alienated from the group.

Adam faltered at the question, and a part of him felt a little guilty for taking out his frustrations on Kai, but he was also still really upset. “There was an opening. You were available.”

There it was again, the underlining tension that lingered around the break in their team that was dropped and never explained… “But why was there an opening?” What had happened to separate up the original team?

“Because there was.” End of story. Adam wasn’t about to disclose that tidbit of personal information. Reeve and him had a falling out. And Kai didn’t need to know the reason why or what had happened.

Only problem was, the kid wasn’t backing down, as he continued to insist on answers.

The scale between Adam’s moral compass and his bitter feelings was really starting to weigh down to the negative emotions, and he had to quickly turn the other way to not show his imbalance. “Look, Reeve was on our team, but we couldn’t get along.” All because of that stupid night… “Then he bailed on us, okay?”

“So you’re saying you wish he was still on the team instead of me, right?” Kai was still on the defensive side, but Adam had to grin at the comment because it reminded him of why he added Kai in the first place. Reeve was a stubborn jerk, whilst Kai was the playful one. It was the reminder he needed to dispel his bitter feelings.

“No, Kai. We did pretty good without him.” He was honestly happy Kai was on their team instead of Reeve. Kai was definitely the moral support they needed, especially now. And he helped Adam vent a bit.

“Well!”

Really? He was going to insist they did well without them? He sighed and just accepted that they were probably right, “-Fine, we did pretty well.”

But Kai was suddenly latching onto his arm and tugging him around to face the far wall. “No! No, Look! A well!”

The pair hustled over to the well’s side and glanced down into the black pit. “If you wish, look for water without fish.” Kai chanted back the gnome’s riddle with an air of wonder and excitement.

“I think you just solved the riddle, Kai.”

“Really!?” He was actually right?! “Cause it’s just a guess and I-“ He couldn’t finish that thought as Adam dove down into the wells opening without hesitation and Kai gasped in alarm. “I just hope there’s water down there.”

The fall down into the depths went on for a ways until they caught sight of the water and took a deep breath to prepare for the plunge. What they didn’t expect was for the current to be so strong, that it knocked their bodies against the stone waterway walls, before spitting them out of the pipeline that sent them cascading down a waterfall. The resulting crash into the open water below, knocked their lights right out and everything faded to black.

…………………………

“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but doesn’t it feel like the hill is getting far too close to fast?” When they’d first spotted the hill, it had been far off into the distance, but only after ten minutes of walking, it had gotten considerably close. Maybe this was just part of the games malfunction? Vanessa looked over to Reeve for reassurance, but her company didn’t say anything in return, he just stopped and stared. “Reeve?” No reply. “Reeve!” She shouted his name and the guy in question glared over at her.

“You do realize I’m only standing two feet away?”

“Then reply next time!”

“I was watching that hill to see if it moved.”

“Huh?” Vanessa tilted her head confused and glanced back at the hill. Why would a hill move? But after a minute of staring, her eyes widened as it shifted. It was definitely moving!

Reeve held an arm up in front of her, and jerked his head back. “Go back!” She looked questioningly at him, but another insistent head jerk had her retracing her steps.

They couldn’t be too sure what that thing was anymore, and Reeve didn’t want Vanessa in the way. Crouching down behind a tree, he peered out around the log to watch the thing approach.

With it being that much closer, the hill was actually moving far faster than it appeared at a distance, and as it neared, he could make out more clearly a spiky, shelled body of some kind of creature. It was when the creature had drawn considerably close, it slowed to a stop and a slug body wiggled out of the shell to taste the air with its whisker like tendrils. There was a moment where Reeve was toying with the idea of coming out of hiding to fight it, or remain hidden till it moved on, when it suddenly reared back it’s head and bellowed out a loud cry. Reeve and Vanessa shrieked back in alarm to the ear-piercing sound and clutched their ears, in hopes of drowning out the noise. In the midst of their alarm, one of the slimy tendrils found purchase with Reeve’s ankle and yanked him out of the tree coverage.

“Reeve!” Vanessa rushed forward to catch her friend’s wrist, hoping to tug them free of the giant snail, but a flurry of tendrils lashed out and caught her midair, disabling any chances of her escape. Reeve growled in irritation and disgust, as he struggled against the wet, mucous hold, and then used his power to draw up the trees in the surrounding area to pummel them all at the snail’s shell and fleshy bits that slathered around in the air.

Needless to say, the snail was not happy and it started to thrash Vanessa around, who screamed in alarm and fear as her head was whiplashed around in the snail’s anger. Reeve’s eyes rolled back into focus, as he called out to her in worry.

“I-I’m fine-“ She grit her teeth and instead focused on trying to fly upwards, even if she had to take the damn viscous monster with her. Satisfied by the answer, he turned his sights back on the fight and focused his intent on freeing Vanessa from the creature by pummeling all the tendrils encased around her waist first. With a cry of success, Vanessa pulled free and launched herself up out of arms reach. With that out of the way, Reeve could focus on his own safety, and he raised the logs all into the air, before sending them raining down onto the creature’s body. The snail howled and screeched at the barrage and slammed the tendril holding Reeve down into the ground, flattening Reeve against the trampled and slim infested dirt. His head rang with the bashing and he could barely focus his eyes on what was infront of him.

Vanessa cupped her hands against her mouth, as she gasped in alarm and fear. That slam looked deadly and she wasted no time coming back down to his aid. Admist Reeve’s wooziness, his power cut off, making it shower splinters of wood and broken chunks of log. The snail became to preoccupied with protecting itself to pay her any mind as she swooped in to quickly snatch Reeve up as fast as possible and then took back to the sky. The shower of wood had served as perfect cover for her friend’s recover, but in the end, she had gotten a few cuts herself. At least they were still alive and she made sure to steer clear of the ground. Only problem was, they couldn’t stay up there forever. They both needed rest.

“Thanks.” Reeve mumbled out after showing no signs of even being conscious. She honestly hadn’t expected his gratitude and about dropped him out of surprise.

“You’re awake?” Vanessa had been certain he’d been knocked out cold.

“Must have been the snail’s own slime that kept me from taking serious damage.” He mostly mumbled that bit to himself, as he quieted in thought. Had that pool of mucous not been at the bottom to cushion his fall, he would certainly be out of the game.

Vanessa went quiet after that, noting Reeve was talking to himself, and she needed time to her own thoughts as well. They flew for some time, before she started to wane in the sky and needed to come down to rest, but after their last run in, she wasn’t too excited to be back on the ground. There had to be some form of shelter out here that they could take….

That was when a light caught her eye. The sky had considerably darkened by this point, but thanks to the cover of night, she could now make out a building hidden ‘tween the trees.

“There’s a building.”

Reeve looked up to spot the light and narrowed his eyes to stare contemplatively at the structure. Well, it was better than being out in the open. “Let’s check it out.”

Vanessa was relieved to hear that, as she swopped down on the building and dropped Reeve to the ground just outside the structure’s front doors.

The building looked ominous and far from inviting, like it was an aged old Victorian house that was haunted. But still- better than being outside with that snail… She shuddered from the memory of being entrapped by those cold, mucous coated tentacles. She was really longing for a bath and a fresh change of clothes. 

The door to the establishment swung open and a voice thick with accent addressed them. “Ahhhh! Bonsoir! What are two youths, such as yourself, doing out here in this cold night?” Reeve held his arm up defensively at the sudden voice and readied to attack at the first sign of danger. The gentleman at the door took a step back in surprise. “Pardon. Whatever is the matter?” They hadn’t expected someone to be waiting at the door for them, much less since they hadn’t even knocked. Reeve eyed them suspiciously, but then he had to remind himself that he was taking part in a game and these people were merely AI. Them being at the door was trigger enough, so he lowered his defensive pose, if only a little and looked the man over. The man at the door was a French man, with slicked back gray hair and wearing a tan vest and slacks, with a red tie.

“Who are you?” Reeve asked after some hesitation.

“My name is Jules Voulcan, and you are?” The man waved his arm in the air as he spoke, and dipped into a light bow before looking back up with his own question.

He grunted back in reply and folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t need to know.”

“Excusez-moi, but you look to be in need of shelter and I cannot in good graces invite strangers into my home, not without the customary exchanging of names, no?”

“Reeeve…” Vanessa lightly elbowed his side, to which he looked disgruntled at her, but she stepped forward to be the one to speak for the party. “My name is Vanessa and this is Reeve. You wouldn’t happen to have a bath by any chance, would you?” The guy seemed to pause in thought, before his face split into a too wide a grin, that looked a bit perturbed. Vanessa hesitated for a second, but at the offering of bedding, food and bath, she carried onwards inside. Reeve on the other hand was not buying it, and he followed after her far more cautiously. This whole set up felt suspiciously like a trap.

His worries only persisted as they were given separate rooms for the night.

“A change of clothes will be provided after you have properly bathed.” And with that, they were left to their own devices. But as soon as that bedroom door closed, Reeve went right for the handle and tested the lock. The door opened without reserve and he peered down both sides of the hallway. Everything still seemed in the norm… Letting the door click shut again, he paced around the room, checking all the portraits and furniture, and even testing the bed. Still nothing. What were the chances the game had a safe zone? -Definitely not. Then this might be part of the main story quest. Perhaps if they stayed the night, they would trigger an event? Appeased a little by the thought, he decided he’d take the offer on the bath.

Little did either of them know, when they’d both striped of their clothes, a little weasel slipped unnoticed into the room and patted down their clothes for a little something and then scurried on its way.


End file.
